Botanical classification/cultivar denomination: Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Celebration Cherry Star.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of new Guinea Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Balceborstxe2x80x99.
The new Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Arroyo Grande, Calif. The objective of the breeding program is to develop New Guinea Impatiens cultivars that are compact, have a freely basal branching growth habit and numerous large flowers with attractive flower colors.
The new Impatiens originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in 2000 of the Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Celebration Cherry Star, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,407, as the female, or seed parent, with a proprietary selection of Impatiens hawkeri identified as code number 2511, not patented, as the male, or pollen parent. The cultivar Balceborst was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Arroyo Grande, Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in Arroyo Grande, Calif. since March, 2000 has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Balceborstxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Balceborstxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct New Guinea Impatiens cultivar:
1. Upright, uniform and mounded plant habit.
2. Large light and dark purple bi-colored flowers that are positioned above and beyond the leaves.
3. Very dark purple-colored leaves.
Plants of the new Impatiens differ primarily from plants of the female and male parents in flower and leaf coloration.
Plants of the new Impatiens can be compared to plants of the cultivar Kimpgua, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat No. 10,429. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in West Chicago, Ill., plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the cultivar Kimpgua in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens were more vigorous than plants of the cultivar Kimpgua.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens had longer and thicker lateral branches than plants of the cultivar Kimpgua.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens had longer internodes than plants of the cultivar Kimpgua.
4. Plants of the new Impatiens were more freely flowering than plants of the cultivar Kimpgua.